Sixteen Years
by i'm a faller
Summary: The more I thought about it, the more hopeless our predicament seemed. I had stretched the tape out pretty far, so we must've traveled kind of far. But why had the time machine broken? We used Blendin's way more than once, and it was fine. We were stuck in a different time, and no way to return. All I could do was hope. Hope that we hadn't gone too far. It was all my fault OnHiatus
1. Of Babies and Lasers

"Hey Dippy!" Mabel exclaimed. The suddenness of it startled me, and I slammed down the journal in surprise. The light of her braces blinded me.

"Mabel! Don't do that!" I groaned. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Twenty six and a half times exactly!" she chirped.

"How would you kn-"

"I counted!"

"How could I tell you to do something one half of a time?"

"I interrupted you, so it only came half way out."

"Like you just did?"

"Uh-huh!"

I rolled my eyes.

"What do you want?" I sighed upon seeing that she still stood there, grinning like an idiot.

"Do I have to want something?" she inquired with a hint of halfhearted sarcasm.

"When your smiling like that, yes!" I replied with the same dull wit.

"Fine. I'm bored. Wanna knit with me?" She waved two pairs of wooden knitting needles around in my face. I pushed them aside, only to have her shove them back into my sight.

"Why on earth would I want to knit with you?" I asked.

"Because the alternatives are sitting on your butt all day reading dorky nerd stuff or melting marshmallows one at a time in the microwave with Soos," she pointed out.

"Soos is doing the marshmallow thing without me!" I shouted. "He said he'd wait for me!"

"No he's waiting. But you'd seriously rather do dumb things like that instead of mastering the art of yarn with your own sister?" she questioned. I couldn't tell if the look of hurt on her face was genuine or counterfeit, but she faked a sniffle so I guessed it was the latter.

"It's not dumb! It's actually very intellectually stimulating!" I argued.

"Like how?" she retorted.

"I'll get back to you on that!" I said, leaving the room and entering the kitchen.

* * *

We'd made five plates of the stuff, and our hands and fingers were coated in a white, gooey, well, uh, goo.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Soos laughed. "We should do this again!"

"Yeah we should!" I exclaimed. That was fun.

"Kids! You have a visitor!" Grunkle Stan yelled, cutting our good times short.

Hurriedly, I rinsed the slime off my hands in the kitchen sink and met Stan out by the door.

A tall, skinny kid stood in the doorway. He had darkish skin and scraggly black hair. I didn't recognize him, and something told me this encounter would not end well, in some way or another.

Mabel was a few seconds later than me, but I could tell she was already smitten with the guy. She was so weird.

"Well hello!" Mabel greeted.

The boy gave a small smile.

"Dipper and Mabel Pines!" he announced in a deep, friendly voice. "It is imperative that you follow me outside."

"It's imperative, Dipper! Yay!" my sister cheered. "I don't even know what that word means!"

"Your just gonna walk out there with this guy? We have no idea who he is or why he's here!" I said to her in a harsh whisper.

"It's alright. I mean you no harm, but I do understand your reluctance," the stranger said.

"See? Let's just see what he has to say," Mabel suggested. She trusted people way too easily.

"Fine!" I humphed, unwillingly following Mabel out the door.

* * *

He led us into the woods, were I saw someone I nearly forgot about and was stupid enough to believe I'd never see again.

Blendin Blandin conversed with a giant floating baby. I stared at the scene in front of me, with so many emotions buzzing inside of me, I couldn't possibly pick just one.

"I thought you said you meant us no harm!" Mabel shrieked.

"I lied!" the teenager stated simply.

"All right. What's _happening_?" I demanded. As if in response, a gentle breeze nudged the trees before stopping almost as soon as it started.

"I am Time Baby! All powerful being and leader of the time travelers!" the baby bellowed, in a surprisingly deep voice. "You know Blendin Blandin, and this is Illu Zhun, the newest recruit to the Time Anomaly Removal Crew. You have been brought before me to face your punishment for toying with the delicate fabric of time!" he raged. Upon seeing our blank faces, he added, "For, uh, stealing this guy's time machine and breaking some other rules!" Time Baby explained, motioning to Blendin.

"That's right! We were able to prove that I was innocent, and charge you guilty of the felonies you committed that day!" Blendin said smugly.

"For this breakage of Time law, you have been sentenced to three years in Time Prison!" Time Baby boomed.

Did everything from the future start with the word time? Seriously. _Time_ Baby, _Time_ Law, _Time_ Prison, _time_ machine. At least the last one made sense.

I felt a pair of hands grab my shoulders. One glance back told me my attacker was Illu. Instinct kicked in, and it told me to kick him. (AN: See what I did there? :3 No? Okay...) I picked my foot up and struck blindly backwards. I missed the target area completely, but my foot hit something else. It was small and hard. About the size and shape of a tape measure.

I heard it clatter to the ground, and before Illu could process what was happening, I was on it, calling for Mabel when I saw lasers appear from Time Baby's eyes.

My twin leapt onto the forest dolor beside me. I pulled the tape measure out and hit a button. We vanished. Right when the lasers would've hit us, too.

We were gone in a blink of blue light,

I think we could all agree today took a turn for the weirder.


	2. Shack to the Future

We were in the forest. And the futuristic trio was gone.

Everything looked the same as it did when we left, but then again, it was just trees and dirt.

"When are we?" Mabel inquired from beside me.

"Let me check," I told her, picking up the time machine. Or what used to be the time machine.

The plastic edges sat on the ground, looking slightly burnt, but other than that unharmed. It was everything else that made me have a heart attack. Wires and circuitboard and a whole bunch of stuff I had absolutely no idea what to call lay there in a chaotic heap. What I held in my hands were two of the side pieces.

"I'm not an expert or anything," Mabel started, "but it looks like that things broken!"

"Ya think?" I shouted.

"Geez! You don't have to yell! I'm right here!" she pointed out.

"Sorry," I huffed. "It's just that we're stranded somewhere in the middle of who-knows-when, and our only way back is in a bunch of little pieces!" I scooped up as many of the fragments as my hands could hold, placing them gingerly in my pocket.

The more I thought about it, the more hopeless our predicament seemed. I had stretched the tape out pretty far, so we must've traveled kind of far. But why had the time machine broken? We used Blendin's way more than once, and it was fine. We were stuck in a different time, and no way to return. All I could do was hope. Hope that we hadn't gone too far. But I could sense that we were going to be here for a while. And it was all my fault.

"Wanna go see if the Shack's still here?" Mabel suggested. I nodded with a blank expression on my face. My mind was numb. It was too much to handle right now.

* * *

I was relieved to see the Mystery Shack again. It still existed, despite my constant pessimism, thinking that it would be a thing of the future or past.

But it remained, squatting like a wooden toad. I noticed that the rebellious 'S' still refused to take its position on the sign. Mystery Hack.

"See? We couldn't have done too terribly if the Shack's still here!" Mabel reassured. "And it looks like its still in business!"

"Let's go check it out," I gulped quietly. I couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt at getting us into this mess, despite Mabel's evidence, suggestions, and assurance.

The two of us walked over to the building. My heart managed to hammer its way into my throat, but somehow, Mabel was almost skipping!

She was right; it was still in business.

A man was showing a crowd of tourists Rock That Looks Like A Face Rock, the rock that looks like a face. Except Grunkle Stan wasn't the one giving the tour. Instead there was a young man, most likely in his early thirties or late twenties, with curly brown hair and a little bit of scruff on his chin explaining to the audience that the rock wasn't _actually_ a face. Strangely enough, he reminded me of that one time I had to fill in for Stan when Mabel was in charge. Mabel and I stood at the back of the crowd. We'd talk to him when we got the chance.

* * *

The tour continued, the strange man explaining the fake oddities to listening ears. I'd been on this tour about a thousand times, except dsomewhat of the exhibits were different. For example, a dead Komodo dragon with bat wings stitched onto its back collected dust where the six pack-alope once did. He completely skipped the stage of the preteen wolf boy and terrifying giant Question Baby, to my relief. But soon enough, the fun was over. Mabel and I needed to talk to this man.

Slowly and awkwardly, the two of us made our way over to him once we were in the all-too familiar gift shop. He was sorting through the money, and looked scarily similar to Stan, minus the nose, glasses, and square head. Actually, he looked sort of like me. But he couldn't be. This couldn't be me, could it? Maybe it was like, my son or grandson or something. But then we'd be _way_ too far in the future. Either way, I was screwed.

"Uh, hi," Mabel greeted. I could tell she was nervous and, for once, had no idea what to say.

"Hm?" the new Mr. Mystery said. "Oh. You... I thought... I thought you... You were..." He wasn't able to finish his sentence.

"Would you happen to know where Mr. Pines is?" Mabel asked, apparently figuring out her conversation starter.

"I am Mr. Pines, kid. I'm not sure exactly what you'd call me, though," he told her distantly.

"No. _Stan_ Pines," Mabel corrected.

"Stan's gone. Been gone for years," he explained.

"Gone as in _dead_?" I interjected, stunned at this statement.

"Last time I checked," Mr. Pines said. "Listen. I know you're confused. I've been through it too. Let me change out of this stupid suit and I'll tell you everything. You can wait here or in the living room," he called out, already leaving the room.

We decided to wait in the shop. Sure, the Mystery Shack was our summer home, but at the moment it felt foreign.

"Alrighty then," the stranger said, popping up out of nowhere. "Let's begin, shall we?"

**AN: Hi there! Just wanted to say hi! You guys enjoying my chapter titles yet? Bye!**


	3. Hiatus

**Hi everyone! Just wanted to let all of y'all know that I won't be updating on my B C or Sixteen Years stories for a while, because I figured out that it's best to work on one story at a time. Currently that story is Triple Trouble, sequel to Levitation Rises. I recommend that you read them X3!**

**On another note, please vote for me in GrapplingHook's FanFiction Awards Show! I know some of you like my stuff! So pretty please!**

**.:TTYL:.**


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